The three major types of lipids found in biomembranes are as
follows : phosphoglycerides, sphingolipids and sterols.
These three types of lipids can be compared as follows:
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Glycerol backbone + 2
hydrophobic fatty acid groups + 1 polar head group |
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Sphingocine backbone + 1
hydrophobic fatty acid groups + 1 polar head group |
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Not a polymer, have a
distinctive 4 ring structure |
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Phosphate group +
choline/ethanolamine/serine/inositol |
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Phosphate group +
choline/ethanolamine/ssimple sugar residue/ oligosaccharide
residue |
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Hydroxyl head group attached
to sterol ring structure |
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Phosphatidyl choline (PC),
Phosphatidyl ethanolamine (PE), Phosphatidyl serine (PS) and
Phosphatidylinositol (PI) |
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Ceramide, Sphingomyelin,
cerebroside, ganglioside |
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Cholesterol, ergosterol,
sitosterol, stigmasterol |
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